Neshoba Central Growing

Ground was broken Monday for a large expansion project at Neshoba Central Elementary School.

The district is adding a new library and ten classrooms to alleviate overcrowding.

There are more than 1500 Students enrolled in K-5. The auditorium is currently being used as classroom space.

Superintendent George Shaw said the cost was reduced from $2.25 million to just under $2.1 million.

"We re-bid the building and got a substantial decrease on the bid price, simply because of re-locating it in a place that we felt like would be more appealing to the school campus, as well as being more accessible to everyone," Shaw said.

"I think it's a good thing for our district, a good thing for our kids, because it adds more space. We'll be able to spread our kids out a little bit more. We feel like we'll be able to give them a better education with this. We're doing a good job of it now," said elementary principal Lundy Brantley. "But we want to continue to get better."

The school will also get a new outdoor basketball court as part of the package. The addition is slated for completion by mid-October 2009.

The general contractor said the project will help create and preserve jobs.

"The local merchants, concrete suppliers, building suppliers. It sustains those jobs that they have internally, so even though we'll be bringing 10-15 new jobs here, it's bringing a lot more jobs building-wise, from materials, not just labor," said Mark Carter, owner of Terrymark, Inc. "So it affects more than just the people that's sitting on this job site."

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